


In High Feather

by FandomsUnite17



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Feathered Wings, M/M, Wing AU, Wing Grooming, Winged Sides (Sanders Sides), Winged!Logan, Winged!Virgil, Wingfic, Wings, logan and virgil knew each other pre aa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29363919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomsUnite17/pseuds/FandomsUnite17
Summary: Logan and Virgil had always been acquaintances, even before Virgil was accepted as a Light Side. More accurately they had always been friends, but neither of them liked to get sentimental enough to admit that. They had always spent a significant amount of time together. One or two full days per week to be precise, and occasionally more, shorter visits.Thing is, they never told Roman or Patton about this. It wasn't until Virgil was Accepted that they realized that Logan, and now Virgil, wasn't simply introverted and comfortable alone like they'd thought, because they'd realized that they always disappeared in their rooms together, at the same times.Logan and Virgil had not always been friends. They met so often out of necessity. Pure necessity. You see, they both had a secret. A secret they've had for their entire lives. They meet together so often, in one or the others' room, where they could lock the door and Roman and Patton couldn't see them, for a process entirely related to their secret. Preening their wings.What wings, you say? Well... that's exactly the secret they work so hard to keep.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to say quickly to clear up any confusion that in this fic their house in the mindscape is not an apartment and looks nothing like Thomas's apartment. Thanks for reading!

Logan glanced around the hallway nervously. No one there. Good. He wasn’t sure what he was nervous about. He had them hidden. They weren’t shape-shifted away, but the robe he was wearing covered them easily. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he stepped over to Virgil’s door and knocked. “Who is it?”  
Logan glanced once more at the time on his phone. “Logan. We were meeting up today? Roughly ten minutes ago?”  
“Oh, shit! Sorry, I’m coming! I completely forgot that was today!” There was a rushed rustling of movement from inside and then the door swung open, and there stood Virgil. He was wearing his regular clothes and nothing else so he must have shape-shifted his away. Virgil was always more on edge about them being discovered than Logan was. Virgil never tried to hide them. If he was gonna be in any kind of common area he shape-shifted them away, whereas Logan preferred to simply conceal them when he had the chance. That was most likely why Virgil tired out so much faster than Logan did. “I completely forgot.”  
Logan nodded. “No harm done. But we should go to my room and get started.”  
Virgil nodded and closed his door and they both went to Logan’s room, where Virgil locked the door behind them. As soon as the lock clicked Logan threw off his robe and Virgil let his out and then all at once the room was filled with two humongous pairs of feathered wings. They both fluttered their wings for a moment and then tucked them against their backs.  
Logan gestured to the two stools set in the middle of the bedroom, where there was a small nightstand the height of a coffee table. On the stand were three things. A large bucket full of soapy water, and sponge, a small tub of substitute preen oil, and a small, beak-shaped, metal tool. “I prepared everything while I was waiting for you.”  
Virgil nodded. “Yeah, again, sorry. I completely forgot what day it was.”  
“Not a problem. It needed to be set up regardless.”  
“Yeah, true… So, uh… You wanna go first, or...?” He bounced his hands up and down as if weighing two options. “I could go? I’m cool either way.”  
“If you’re truly indifferent, I’ll admit I’m impatient.”  
Virgil smirked and gestured towards the stools. “Go for it. Again, I don’t care either way.”  
Logan went over and sat down on one of the stools and Virgil followed him and sat down on the stool behind him, pulling the stand closer to him. Virgil took a long moment to look over the huge wings before him. Both of their sets of wings were the same size; the tops reached just above their shoulders and the tips stopped at their ankles. “Yikes, these are a mess. I mean, I doubt mine are any better, but… yikes.”  
Logan responded with a short, displeased hum of agreement and Virgil got to work. He grabbed the sponge and dipped it into the bucket, squeezing it out before pressing the wet sponge firmly to the highest part of Logan’s right wing and quickly using the corner of the sponge to work the soapy water in, scrubbing in tiny gentle circles. He copied the motion in the same spot on the left wing, then again in a little bit different spot, then he held his hands back and let Logan fluff up the feathers. Immediately he got back to work on another spot, and they continued like this completely silent.  
That first step took roughly an hour, maybe one-and-a-half hours, and when he finished Virgil was sitting on the floor so he could reach the lower parts of Logan’s wings. “Alright.” He stood up and stretched, setting the bucket and sponge aside, then stepped back and turned away. “You’re good.”  
Logan stood up, stretched. Then he stretched his wings out and shook them and fluttered them, and fluffed up all the feathers, and flapped his wings as wide and rapidly as he could in the space without knocking into something. Virgil covered his face against the spray as the rapid flurry of movement sent water showering the room. “Try and dry those off a bit more, alright? I’m gonna clean the tool extra. Just in case.”  
Logan nodded and spread his wings halfway, fluttering and shaking them and fluffing the feathers up as Virgil took the tool into the small bathroom attached to his bedroom. In a mere two minutes, Virgil came back and he sat back down on the stool and rested his wings. “I am ready, there’s no need to warn me.”   
Virgil was silent for a moment, then he scoffed, and then Logan felt the distinct yet subtle vibration of Virgil carefully nibbling the length of the feather with the tool, from base to tip. Virgil made quick work of the first few feathers, then stopped to let Logan fluff up his feathers again, instinctually copying him and fluffing up his own.  
Logan sighed silently as he let his feathers settle back into place. He found himself relaxing more and more as time went on. It always felt unreasonably good to be preened. He despised being unclean, so he supposed that was why. He hated when his feathers were unclean and unorderly.  
Virgil went through each feather lightly, knowing he would be going through them all one more time with the oil. This step, of going through each feather with the tool, rearranging and cleaning, and rehooking the microscopic barbules in the process, returning each and every feather to the proper shape… This step took the longest, roughly two-and-a-half hours this time.  
Virgil finally got up off the floor, stretched. “That’s that part done!” He took the tool off and flexed his sore fingers and rolled his stiff wrists for a moment, then went into the connected bathroom and rinsed the tool off before coming back and pulling his stool up behind Logan again. “Want a sec the stretch out before I jump into the oil part?”  
Logan nodded silently and got up to pace his bedroom for a bit, rolling his shoulders and stretching his wings out and back in, out and back in. What seemed all too soon to Virgil, he sat back down and fluffed up his feathers, so Virgil sat back down behind him, put the tool back on, and opened the tub of substitute preen oil.  
Birds use one of two substances when coating their feathers during preening. The more common is a waxy oil that comes from a gland near the base of the tail feathers called the uropygial gland. Or, more commonly, the preen gland. Birds that do not have a preen gland have a special type of down feathers that shatter into a powder that functions mostly the same as preen oil. Neither Virgil nor Logan contained either of those special substances, so they used a substitute preen oil that had always been generously supplied to them by the mindscape whenever they needed it.  
Virgil scooped out some of the oil with the tool and began working it into each feather, one at a time. This part of the preening commonly took two hours, which is exactly how long it took this time, on the dot.  
Finally, finally, Virgil was finished. And Logan’s wings looked gorgeous if he did say so himself! He was proud of his work. It had taken about six hours total, and his arms and hands were miserably sore, but it was worth it for the final product.   
After giving Logan a moment to admire his freshly preened wings in the mirror, he washed off the tool again and replaced the soapy water, then brought it all back out and set it on the stand next to the second stool. Virgil sat down on the stool in the front, admittedly excited after seeing the results of Logan’s wings. He heard Logan sit down on the stool behind him. Logan’s wings were finished. Now it was his turn. They had half the day left.  
One down, one to go.


	2. Chapter Two

It went exactly the same as before. Virgil remained completely silent throughout the process and Logan gave him a quick warning whenever he started on a new step. During each step, Logan worked for a short while, then paused to let Virgil fluff up his feathers, then continued, and so on. After the first step, Logan brought the bucket and sponge into the bathroom to put away while Virgil stood and shook his wings dry, spraying the room with water.  
Virgil may or may not have fallen asleep during the second step, because it felt like it had gone way too quick. When it was finished he gladly got up and stretched for a while before sitting back down for the third, and last, step.  
“Virgil.”  
“Hm?” He blinked and shot his head up. Logan had said his name kinda harshly. He must have been staring off into space again. “Sorry, what?”  
“I’m finished. You may get up.”  
“Oh! Awesome!” Virgil got up and went to the bathroom, turning and stretching his wings to admire one then the other. He felt something in him swell with content. “They look great! Thanks, Lo.”  
Logan smiled and nodded at him, his own silent way of saying, “You’re welcome. And thanks to you, too,” then grabbed the tool and oil and put them back in their places. Virgil grabbed the stools and slid them back into their corner and then set the short stand beside them. Logan nodded at him again as he pushed the stand further into the corner. “Thank you.”  
After a short but awkward silence, Virgil cleared his throat. “So, uh… Did you eat anything earlier? I mean…” He sighed. “You wanna come with me and get something to eat before we go to sleep?”  
“I did not eat earlier today, no. So, yes, we-” He interrupted himself with a yawn- “should both eat something.”  
Despite already being tired, they both decided to put in enough energy to shape-shift their wings away for the time being and leave their rooms. They were hoping that they could go to the kitchen, grab something to eat, and leave. But that plan was crushed when they went down the hallway to the kitchen and found Patton there, stirring a mug of what smelled like hot cocoa. “Oh! Hi, guys! You finally decided to emerge?” He grinned, giggling at them teasingly. “Roman made you guys plates from dinner.” He gestured to the fridge.  
Virgil nodded and went over, pulling both plates out and setting them on the counter. Patton tapped against his mug, watching as Logan put the first plate into the microwave. “So… what were you guys doing?”  
Logan smirked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Patton, you know for a fact you have never gotten an answer to that before, and I do not intend to start answering now.”  
Patton groaned. “Okay, okay… But you know, I’ve noticed you and Virgil always disappear for the day on the same days… why is that?”  
Virgil scoffed in answer. “Not answering that either. Nice try though.”  
Patton pouted dramatically. “Oh, come on! Wait, actually, wait a second… Logan, do you…? Have you and Virgil always…? I mean, when you’ve disappeared, have you always met up with Virgil?! Like, even before Virgil joined the family?!” His eyes were wide with excitement.  
Logan stared at him for a moment, expression unreadable, then pulled the second plate out of the microwave and handed it to Virgil. He proceeded to pick up the first plate, grab two forks, and look back at Patton once more before leaving. “If you see Roman, I would appreciate it if you thanked him for the plates.”  
And then they were both gone. Logan handed Virgil a fork as they made their way back into the hallway and found the door to Virgil’s room. Virgil opened the door and let him in, following him and closing the door after. Virgil quickly locked the door and let his wings back out, watching Logan do the same. They both sat down on his circular bed, sitting criss-cross and facing inwards so that their wings could rest off the edge of the bed behind them. “He’s kinda desperate, huh?”  
Logan nodded. “He’s been trying, fruitlessly, to learn why I.. disappear, as he says, as long as I can remember. As has Roman, but Patton has always the more determined one when it comes to this.”  
They ate silently for a while, and then set their empty plates aside and Virgil spoke up. “You know… I really think they should know…”  
Logan nodded. “Yes, they do… But after so long…”  
“Yeah… I wish it was as easy as just… tell them…”  
“As do I… It would be that simple if we hadn’t kept it secret quite this long… But now… I can’t imagine what they’d think.”  
Virgil scoffed. “They’d feel cheated first of all. Betrayed. Lied to.” He sighed dramatically.   
Logan shrugged. “Thinking about things that aren’t happening is a waste of energy. Energy we really don’t have, might I add. So, since we are in your room tonight, do you want the bed and I’ll sleep on the floor, or the other way around?”  
Virgil shrugged. “Bed’s big enough. Wanna share this time?”  
Logan nodded, holding back a yawn, and watched Virgil pick a pair of pajamas and go into his attached bathroom. Since the room they preened in ended up showered with dirty water, rather than try to find some way to keep the room dry through the process, they preened in one room and then both moved to the other room to sleep. Because of this, they each kept a few pairs of pajamas in the other’s room.  
Virgil came out a few moments later and began to set up the bed. Putting the dishes on top of the nightstand, making sure both the sheets and pillows were arranged properly. Logan dug out a pair of his pajamas and went into the bathroom to change.  
When he came out a moment later, Virgil was already asleep on one side of the round bed, wings curled around himself as a makeshift blanket. Yawning, Logan finally stepped over and joined him, collapsing onto the empty half of the huge bed. He was asleep before he’d even situated his wings.


	3. Chapter Three

As far as either he or Patton knew, the two in question had been holed up in Logan’s room all day, again, and then, as was usual on these days, they had both disappeared into Virgil’s room and probably gone to sleep by now. Which meant that no one was in Logan’s bedroom. It was empty. And Logan and Virgil were both asleep. So the room was ripe for investigating.  
Him and Patton had been talking about them again just a bit ago, and with their mostly-recent realization of the fact that the two always disappeared at the exact same times, and always together, in the same room, he was starting to become cripplingly curious. He had to know what was going on! And the fact that Logan had disappeared for whole days at a time like this as long as they can remember… had him and Virgil always met up like this? Had they always disappeared together? Had they always known each other?  
Now he was about to get a few answers, he was sure of it. He took a deep breath and glanced around the hallway once more before looking back at the door in front of him. Based on what very little they knew, and the deliberate secrecy, and the fact that Logan might have known Virgil for much longer than anyone else… He was heavily suspecting a secret romance.  
Roman reached out, grabbed the door handle, and carefully opened the door, taking a single step inside before carefully closing the door behind him and looking out into the room. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was expecting. Maybe a ruffled up, stained bedspread? Which, thankfully, he didn’t find. He shuddered in disgust at the thought. He liked them both, but there was only so much you wanted to know about a person. Nevertheless, whatever it was he might have been expecting, it wasn’t this.  
The room on one side of the bed had been almost cleared out, any small, moveable furniture had been shoved to the other side of the bed. That wasn’t even the weird part, though. The floor on the empty side of the room was a mess. There was a very large pool of water across half the area, and the floor was littered with pieces and fragments of dark, wet feathers. He stared in bewilderment at the water, at the feathers and feather fragments, at the bits of now wet fuzz that had once belonged to a feather, and his eyes were wide and his mouth hanging open. What on earth had happened in here?!  
Then he noticed it. The miniature mound of furniture stuffed into a corner right on the other side of the water and mess. There were two stools and some kind of short nightstand pushed together. Curious, he stepped around the water and over to them. At first, this proved useless, but then he set his hand on the stand and it came back with some kind of oily substance on two fingers. He looked at it for a long few seconds, rubbing it between his fingers and his thumb. He brought his hands up to his face and sniffed it, but the stuff didn’t seem to have a smell, so he wiped it off on his pants and decided to continue his search before his chance timed out and someone found him here.  
The next place he searched was the bathroom, and he found a metal bucket in the bathtub with a sponge in it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about it. It was a bit wet, so it had clearly been used today. There was the occasional spot of leftover soap bubbles inside, a particularly large pile of bubbles in the bottom edge, surrounding… something. Something dark and small. He reached a finger in and poked the thing, pulling his finger back out with the wet fuzz stuck to it. Huh. More of that feather fuzz from the floor… After a moment of thought, he flicked the fuzz back into the bucket and left the bathroom.  
Roman stepped over to the gathering of furniture, pushing aside a chair and stepping up to the dresser, quickly opening the top drawer and digging around quickly. Nothing. He searched the middle drawer. Still, nothing. He looked down and hesitated for only a moment before crouching down and opening the bottom drawer. At first glance, it seemed there was, again, nothing unusual. But when Roman looked at it a little closer, he noticed a folded… bandana? A folded something was in the back left corner. He reached out and carefully moved the cloth, eyes widening with delight when he found a small box hidden underneath it.  
He pulled the box out, adrenaline coursing through him as he set it on top of the dresser and lifted the lid off. His eyes widened yet again. Was this…? What was he looking at? Roman slowly reached into the box and pulled the thing out, turning it over in his hands. It was… a metal beak. Confused, he turned it over and found out, even stranger, that the beak had bands built into the base. He slipped his fingers into the bands and clicked the metal beak a few times. Perplexed, he sipped it off and set it down, reaching into the box for the only thing inside. It was a small tub with a screw-on lid and a very simple label on one side. The label had a mere two words on it. Two words that hit Roman in the face with the realization.  
Preen Oil.  
The pieces were falling into place easily, and he was struck frozen for only a few seconds before he rushed to put the box back into place. Soon the box and its contents were hidden again in the drawer and he was in the hall, Logan’s door closed behind him, rushing out into the living area, only to find it empty. Huh. Patton must have gone down to the den. He turned and rushed down the stairs in the corner into their basement, and there Patton was, playing a game on his phone. “Patton! I figured it out! Logan! And Virgil! I know their secret!”  
Patton was on his feet in a second, phone abandoned on the couch. “What?! Really?! Were we right? Are they together?!”  
Roman shook his head. “Not that I know of, at least. No, I… Okay, I know it’s kinda wrong, so don’t be mad at me, but I snuck into Logan’s room. I just had to know if they were together! And I found… a lot of evidence… that means…”  
Patton bounced on his heels. “Come on! What?!”  
“They have birds! Birds, Patton! Big ones I think! With black feathers, so crows or ravens maybe?!”  
Patton’s eyes were shining with wonder and his grin was blinding. “You’re sure?!”  
Roman nodded. “Very. It’s definitely birds!”


End file.
